Translator: eric vautier Reviewer: Elisabeth Buffard
A girl of nine,
leading witness to the exodus of civilian populations,
fleeing the advance of foreign troops,
will keep all his life,
even in peacetime,
the fear of losing his.
When 25 years later,
his country will be invaded again,
she will make for her children
small bracelets
bearing their name and address,
in the event of a forced separation.
This young woman’s name was Mathilde,
was French,
and lived in Villemomble, east of Paris, very near here.
We have short memories.
We, too, experienced exile.
The history of Europe is marked by experience and experience
massive displacement of civilians fleeing the war.
Mathilde was my grandmother.
Nearly a hundred years later,
Mounzon, 14 year old Syrian girl,
found refuge in the Azraq camp in Jordan.
Not only,
today,
Mounzon was able to successfully continue his studies
in Jordan,
but she is also
an actress committed to Syrian refugees’ access to education,
especially that of girls.
The selflessness shown by Syrian refugees
to lead a life as ordinary as possible is remarkable.
As UNHCR’s deputy director for the Middle East,
I had the privilege of discovering courage,
resilience, and dignity,
refugees show in relation to exile.
And also to discover
all the help they receive.
If since 2015,
more than 500,000 Syrian refugees
have [won] Europe by the Balkan route,
the majority still live in the Middle East.
4.8 million Syrian refugees
are registered in the main host countries:
Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.
Today,
one in four people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee.
Reduced to the European scale, that would mean 125 million
of Syrian refugees in Europe.
Only 20% of Syrian refugees live in camps,
the majority reside in local communities.
Composed of prefabricated organized checkerboard,
Zaatari, Jordan,
is the largest Syrian refugee camp.
Established in less than a year, its population of 80,000 residents
is equivalent to that of a city like La Rochelle.
Zaatari’s daily newspaper
has all the attributes of life in a locality of this size.
Housing issues, with the allocation of prefabricated,
assistance to the most deprived,
issues of education, health,
refugee involvement in camp management.
The life of the camp is a hive of activity from the first hours.
His life is organized around
shops located on the main artery running through the camp,
around schools, health structures,
and sanitary facilities.
In a very different context,
resident refugees
among local communities also face multiple challenges.
For the most part,
they support their needs
thanks to their own savings,
but also to very modest incomes
informal jobs that they have managed to find.
Especially in agriculture and construction.
Some rent one or two rooms for $ 100 or $ 200 a month,
garage, established, shed, that the owners have decided to rent.
Others occupy abandoned public buildings,
or have established community centers.
The daily life of Syrian refugees is precarious,
and every day it becomes more and more.
70% of Syrian refugee populations in Lebanon and 86% in Jordan,
live below the poverty line.
The debts contracted by the refugees,
to meet their daily needs,
increase dramatically.
An increasing number of refugees
also use, resort to, negative survival strategies.
Children are taken out of schools to work,
begging,
more and more early marriage of girls,
and prostitution.
We must protect them.
In countries bordering Syria,
refugee assistance is organized on several levels.
In the front line, local communities.
The second level is constituted
national and municipal authorities,
who have shown exemplary courage and generosity
hosting 4.8 million refugees.
The daily life of refugees is precarious,
and becomes more and more.
Refugees have incurred more and more debt
to support their daily needs.
The countries of the region contribute to a global public good,
that is to say
an action whose responsibility must be shared.
And it is vital that this responsibility is shared,
because it is in the general interest.
Sadly,
the main responsibility continues to reside with the host countries,
who also continue to bear the majority of the costs.
Important facet of a more equal distribution
international aid for refugee assistance,
UNHCR promises resettlement of growing numbers
refugees outside the region
through different legal channels,
classic relocation,
student visas, work visas,
and family reunification.
As the High Commissioner for Refugees pointed out,
refugees deserve
investments and actions in the plural,
and not indifference and cruelty.
Welcome and support refugees fleeing bombings, rapes,
and conditions of survival more and more precarious,
it’s not an act of charity,
it is a legal obligation prescribed by international law,
it is a common duty of our humanity,
it is in the general interest.
Thank you.
(Applause)
A girl of nine,
leading witness to the exodus of civilian populations,
fleeing the advance of foreign troops,
will keep all his life,
even in peacetime,
the fear of losing his.
When 25 years later,
his country will be invaded again,
she will make for her children
small bracelets
bearing their name and address,
in the event of a forced separation.
This young woman’s name was Mathilde,
was French,
and lived in Villemomble, east of Paris, very near here.
We have short memories.
We, too, experienced exile.
The history of Europe is marked by experience and experience
massive displacement of civilians fleeing the war.
Mathilde was my grandmother.
Nearly a hundred years later,
Mounzon, 14 year old Syrian girl,
found refuge in the Azraq camp in Jordan.
Not only,
today,
Mounzon was able to successfully continue his studies
in Jordan,
but she is also
an actress committed to Syrian refugees’ access to education,
especially that of girls.
The selflessness shown by Syrian refugees
to lead a life as ordinary as possible is remarkable.
As UNHCR’s deputy director for the Middle East,
I had the privilege of discovering courage,
resilience, and dignity,
refugees show in relation to exile.
And also to discover
all the help they receive.
If since 2015,
more than 500,000 Syrian refugees
have [won] Europe by the Balkan route,
the majority still live in the Middle East.
4.8 million Syrian refugees
are registered in the main host countries:
Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.
Today,
one in four people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee.
Reduced to the European scale, that would mean 125 million
of Syrian refugees in Europe.
Only 20% of Syrian refugees live in camps,
the majority reside in local communities.
Composed of prefabricated organized checkerboard,
Zaatari, Jordan,
is the largest Syrian refugee camp.
Established in less than a year, its population of 80,000 residents
is equivalent to that of a city like La Rochelle.
Zaatari’s daily newspaper
has all the attributes of life in a locality of this size.
Housing issues, with the allocation of prefabricated,
assistance to the most deprived,
issues of education, health,
refugee involvement in camp management.
The life of the camp is a hive of activity from the first hours.
His life is organized around
shops located on the main artery running through the camp,
around schools, health structures,
and sanitary facilities.
In a very different context,
resident refugees
among local communities also face multiple challenges.
For the most part,
they support their needs
thanks to their own savings,
but also to very modest incomes
informal jobs that they have managed to find.
Especially in agriculture and construction.
Some rent one or two rooms for $ 100 or $ 200 a month,
garage, established, shed, that the owners have decided to rent.
Others occupy abandoned public buildings,
or have established community centers.
The daily life of Syrian refugees is precarious,
and every day it becomes more and more.
70% of Syrian refugee populations in Lebanon and 86% in Jordan,
live below the poverty line.
The debts contracted by the refugees,
to meet their daily needs,
increase dramatically.
An increasing number of refugees
also use, resort to, negative survival strategies.
Children are taken out of schools to work,
begging,
more and more early marriage of girls,
and prostitution.
We must protect them.
In countries bordering Syria,
refugee assistance is organized on several levels.
In the front line, local communities.
The second level is constituted
national and municipal authorities,
who have shown exemplary courage and generosity
hosting 4.8 million refugees.
The daily life of refugees is precarious,
and becomes more and more.
Refugees have incurred more and more debt
to support their daily needs.
The countries of the region contribute to a global public good,
that is to say
an action whose responsibility must be shared.
And it is vital that this responsibility is shared,
because it is in the general interest.
Sadly,
the main responsibility continues to reside with the host countries,
who also continue to bear the majority of the costs.
Important facet of a more equal distribution
international aid for refugee assistance,
UNHCR promises resettlement of growing numbers
refugees outside the region
through different legal channels,
classic relocation,
student visas, work visas,
and family reunification.
As the High Commissioner for Refugees pointed out,
refugees deserve
investments and actions in the plural,
and not indifference and cruelty.
Welcome and support refugees fleeing bombings, rapes,
and conditions of survival more and more precarious,
it’s not an act of charity,
it is a legal obligation prescribed by international law,
it is a common duty of our humanity,
it is in the general interest.
Thank you.
(Applause)
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